Friday, February 24, 2017

Northwest Flower and Garden Show

It is that time of year again, when, as rain and snow and sun showers pelt us outside, we flock to the convention center for a "Taste of Spring". 

That was the theme of this year's show, the 29th annual flower-and-plantstravaganza. Tom and I were there for opening day on Wednesday. 

The show features large display gardens constructed on the convention hall floor, as well as extensive markets featuring plants to paintings to pottery to posies to pots to potting soil, and just about anything else having to do with gardening. 

I took a lot of photos, of course. The wow factor is the display gardens, and I'll make them the subject of my first post. The lighting is fairly low in the display hall, so photography is tricky. Flash washes everything out. Low light tends to create fuzzy photos. I did my best to eliminate the fuzziness.

The spring flowers in the entry display are always such a treat, and the scent of hyacinths fills the air. 
The first garden inside the door is golden - a study in yellow in all of its forms. 






I'm not even going to try to identify the garden creators or name the plants or make much commentary. If you have questions, ask, and I'll get back to you. 

Since the theme this year is about edibles in the garden, Dan Robinson, famous for monumental bonsai, featured fruiting specimens.. 
 It's hard to appreciate the size and form of that big old contorted filbert in this photo but it was spectacular. 
 Dan was most proud of this rooted limb from a 100 year old apple tree. 
































 What a charming little fairy garden in the corner of this display. 

 I would very much like to have tea here!













Which garden would you most like to dine in?

14 comments:

  1. That must have been a huge garden show! I love seeing them this time of the year. It's amazing what they can set up in such a short period of time. I have a nephew who is a vendor/exhibitor at one and know how much work goes into creating these shows. Wonderful photos! Thanks for sharing them.

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  2. Oh my, these spring garden shows do get the juices flowing.

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  3. What an awesome amount of work must go on to produce this show. It must take more than day to see all the displays.

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  4. Wow! This is awesome. We used to go to these garden shows in Chicago. Sigh... Don't have them in Hawaii, I'm afraid. I agree with Red. Can you imagine how much work it takes to put this all together?

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  5. What a beautiful show. Thank you for sharing with us.

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  6. I've been to this show three or four years but I never have to miss it, since your pictures take me right there! Wonderful display gardens, as always. I now visit the garden shops nearby for my own little garden patch, but the colors and smells of the display gardens are not to be missed. Thank you as always for your wonderful pictures, Linda. :-)

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  7. What a great way to feed Spring fever. Just beautiful displays. I am really getting the urge to get my hands dirty and it looks like we will be able to a month early this year.

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  8. how fun, looks like you could spend weeks in there, just getting lost in all that beauty and springtime! Thanks for sharing!

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  9. Absolutely awesome pictures. So inspiring. May Spring come very soon!!!

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  10. Since we are still in the midst of winter here in Saskatchewan, so I'd appreciate dining in any of these gardens. I can almost smell the flowers from here. Thanks for sharing!

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  11. It must take many hands to set up! What a lovely day in mid winter! :)

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  12. You got some great pictues of the gardens. They were all lovely, hard to pick a favorite this year. Perhaps we could have a progressive meal and spend a little time in each one.

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  13. To tell you the truth, though these were impressive, I think your garden is far more beautiful and well designed than any of these. Your wisteria arbor alone could have won all the blue ribbons.

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